Holly Trustees Search Options for New City Well Development

The Holly Trustees reviewed their options for the town’s water infrastructure plan during their monthly meeting, Wednesday, September 1^st.   The town’s wells are aging out and a new water storage tank is also needed.

Following a Zoom meeting with Water Engineer Nick Marcotte from Element Engineering, the Trustees are looking at the most financially feasible option, to discontinue using the North well and drilling a new one.  The South and East wells would be tied together and a new storage tank and a treatment plant to filter radium deposits from the water would be included.  Even if the North well was an option, a pipe would have to run through the town to reach the other wells and a radium filtering system for that will would still be required.  The Trustees will continue to research their financing plans for available grant funding for the preliminary engineering and EPA studies.

Cheryl Sanchez, Director of Prowers Economic Prosperity, provided an update on the Essential Workforce Housing Project being developed for six counties in southeast Colorado.  Each participating community would provide property on which new houses could be built or renovated to address the critical housing shortage in the region.  She said Holly’s cost share would be no more than 8.5% from the American Recovery Program which cities across the country received from the government to help address the economic impact from the Covid pandemic.  She said SCEDD director, Mike Steerman, would provide additional details for the Trustees if they wanted to pursue the project for their community. At this point, two developers have submitted letters of intent for the six county project.

The Trustees approved ordinances No. 540 and 541 on first reading.  Number 540 adopts the 2020 edition of the “Model Traffic Code” and Number 541 repeals Ordinance 406 (An Ordinance to Establish a Qualified Court of Record) and establishing the Holly Municipal Court as a Court Not of Record, eliminating the requirement and cost of a public defender.

In other action, the Trustees approved the liquor license renewal for Trailside Liquor and approved the sealed bids submitted for the sale of excess town equipment.  The Trustees voted to provide the lunch for the ARPA monthly meeting set for September 30^th at the Senior Citizens Center.  Use of town facilities for a Youth 22 Shooting Contest was approved for October 15^th and for a mobile clinic for spay and neuter services November 18-21 to be located at the Holly Fire Department.  Participants can register their pets at bergern@gmail.com or call 719-285-9788 for information about the clinic.

By Russ Baldwin